03x03 - The Talking Skull

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: in the fall of , a map maker was surveying

The grounds of a boy scout ranch in eastern missouri.

Suddenly, something strange caught his eye.

At first, it looked like a turtle shell, but it was a

Skull.

A mystery now unfolded.

To solve it, detectives would have to put a face on the

Grisly discovery.

The s bar f boy scout ranch covers , acres of

Picturesque countryside in rural missouri.

The map maker had discovered the human skull in a remote area of

The ranch.

Teena orling was his supervisor.

He was a professional map maker from finland.

And he saw the skull within the first few days here.

He did not say anything to me or to anyone else about it because

He was afraid.

Narrator: but three months later, just before he returned

To finland, the map maker finally told teena about the

Skull.

Using a detailed map of the ranch and following the map

Maker's directions, teena and the scout rangers searched for

The skull.

They found what they were looking for in a sparsely wooded

Clearing.

The sun was glinting off this white object.

You could tell right away it was a skull.

And I thought to myself, oh, boy, we finally found it.

Narrator: along with the skull, searchers found a few

Strands of hair, a lower jaw, and about bones -- including

A pelvic bone, a femur, and some ribs.

My initial thought was that it may possibly be an indian

Grave until we saw the blue-jean material.

Narrator: searchers unearthed the tattered remains of a pair

Of jeans, pieces of a flowered shirt, remnants of a plastic

Shopping bag, and a metal button.

To begin the task of identifying the victim, the physical

Evidence was sent to the forensic crime lab in

Jefferson city, missouri.

They began their evaluation with the tattered blue jeans.

The outside seam was intact.

This helped criminalist tom grant determine the overall

Height of the victim.

From cuff to waistband, the outside seam measured inches.

Based on that outside measurement, the inside seam

Length would probably have been approximately to inches,

Which is from a short person, who would have worn that pair of

Jeans.

Narrator: grant estimated the victim's height to be about

Feet, and scientists discovered evidence of foul play in the

Dirt itself when they analyzed a white substance which they

Found mixed in with the soil at the grave.

The trace section of our laboratory analyzed those and

Determined the presence of calcium carbonate, which is a --

Could have been a -- by-product of calcium oxide, which is lime.

People put lime there to either stop the odor of the

Decomposing body or to actually cause it to decompose faster.

Narrator: scientists analyze the hair found at the grave

Site.

Hair can be identified as either caucasoid, negroid, or

Mongoloid.

But the hair was badly damaged.

The only conclusion scientists could reach was that it was not

Negroid.

The hair on the left is the hair from the grave site.

The hair that's on the right is a negroid or

African-american-head hair, and its characteristics differ

Considerably from that at the grave site.

So I would determine that the hair at the grave site is not of

African-american origin.

Narrator: the preliminary information indicated that the

Victim was a female caucasian.

She was short -- about feet tall.

Police sent this information to the national crime center -- a

Database of all missing persons in the united states and canada.

And that was unsuccessful.

We believed it to be m*rder.

The problem was identifying who the victim was.

Really, the first thought on my mind was this is probably

Going to be one that we won't be able to solve.

Narrator: but were investigators even on the right

Track?

One tiny piece of evidence unearthed from the shallow grave

Would change the course of the investigation and take medical

Detectives halfway around the world.

Narrator: investigators believed that the skeletal

Remains found in the shallow grave had been there for less

Than eight years and were those of a petite caucasian female.

One piece of evidence had puzzled investigators from the

Start -- the small metal button found with the remains.

Half of it was somewhat rusted and deteriorated, but the

Upper half had a logo that was stamped on it.

The letters t-e-x-w-o-o-d was present -- texwood, and in the

O's, there was a star type pattern that was present.

None of us at our laboratory had ever seen or heard of that logo

Before.

Narrator: but not even the fbi had heard of a product or

Company by the name of texwood.

So we began calling all over the united states, canada, and

Mexico -- couldn't find it.

So, I'd called a friend of mine with u.s. Customs.

Narrator: u.s. Customs special agent timothy quinn

Entered the name texwood in his computer.

What he discovered gave investigators the first crucial

Break they needed to identify the victim.

Checks of our computerized importer files were negative.

We then had to make a series of phone calls, the last of which

Was to our national import specialists in new york.

And from the office of the national import specialists, we

Were able to determine that the name texwood is a make of

Jeans that was manufactured strictly for consumption in

Asia.

The brand was not intended to be exported to the united states.

Narrator: this meant that either the victim had traveled

To asia before her death and purchased the jeans there or was

In fact asian.

To find out more, the bones were sent first to anthropologists at

The university of missouri and later to colorado state

University.

If you have the right bones, you can find out everything you

Need.

You don't need a complete skeleton.

The more you have, the more complete picture you can have.

Narrator: for instance, a skull can tell an anthropologist

About gender and race.

The first step was to determine whether the skull was caucasoid,

Negroid, or mongoloid -- which includes native americans and

Asians.

A mongoloid skull usually has broad, squared cheekbones.

The anthropologist confirmed police suspicions that the

Skull was mongoloid.

The bridge of the nose, the squared cheekbones, the overall

Smaller features led me to believe that this was

A mongoloid.

Narrator: the anthropologist confirmed that the victim was

Indeed female.

Since the cranial sutures were closed and judging from the

Wear of her teeth, the anthropologist estimated that

She was young -- most likely in her mid-s.

The bones had smooth surfaces -- an indication that the victim

Was not particularly muscular.

Anthropologists estimated her weight to be approximately

Pounds.

And they learned something else from examining her pelvic bone.

When a woman has delivered at least two children, the

Separating process of the pelvic bones creates a groove like this

One.

Such a groove was found on the pelvic bone at the grave site.

Investigators now knew that the victim had given birth to at

Least two children.

Still, they were at a dead end.

It's very frustrating because you cannot start the

Investigation of who committed the crime until you determine

Who the victim is.

You continually -- it's like spinning your wheels, not going

Anywhere, until you can identify the victim.

Narrator: with little else to go on, the next step was to give

The unidentified skull a face.

Narrator: the skeletal remains told authorities what

They were looking for -- an asian female who had given birth

To at least two children.

They knew she was petite, standing about feet tall

And weighing about pounds.

But what did she look like?

Police asked the anthropologists to bring the skull to life

Through the technique of facial reconstruction.

First, the reconstructionist makes a latex mold of the actual

Skull.

Once the mold is made, the skull can be returned to police to be

Used as evidence.

Then a plaster cast is made from the latex mold.

Using this plaster cast, rubber pegs called landmarks are glued

Onto the cast.

They represent tissue thicknesses at various points on

The face.

Facial tissue thicknesses differ from men and women and vary

With race and age.

Next, the landmarks are connected with strips of clay

Following the contours of the skull.

Each individual skull is like a blueprint or a

Fingerprint -- no two are alike.

We follow this blueprint, then, to create our faces -- following

The shape, the bends of each skull.

Narrator: the spaces between the clay strips are then filled

In to flesh out the face.

Plastic, brown eyes are carefully aligned and set in the

Sockets, and lids are molded.

Final touches include a nose and lips.

And because the victim was presumed to be asian, the bust

Was given a black wig.

The identity of the victim was still unknown.

But police now had an important tool in their investigation -- a

Face they hoped would jar someone's memory.

They sent photographs of the bust to newspapers and

Television stations in the nearby cities, hoping for a

Response.

The wait lasted just three days.

Skeletal remains of a woman were found in...

Narrator: wilaiporn cox was watching television when she saw

The bust on the local news program.

Then I called my husband -- tell my husband what I saw in

The tv.

Narrator: her husband, karmen, picked up a newspaper,

Looked at the bust, and thought he recognized it as well.

Called her back -- I said, it's awful close.

I think we ought to do something.

Narrator: the coxes said the bust looked like their friend

Who lived in a nearby town, -year-old bun chee nyhuis,

Whom they haven't seen for the past five years.

They told police that bun chee had left her husband, richard,

And had returned home to her native thailand.

When police questioned richard nyhuis, he did not

Believe that the skull found at the boy scout ranch, miles

Away from his home, was that of his wife, bun chee.

Richard said bun chee had told him that she missed her family

In thailand and that she wanted to divorce him.

He said he personally drove her to the st. Louis airport five

Years earlier to take her flight to thailand.

He said that was the last time he and his children saw her and

They never heard from her again.

And neighbors confirmed that bun chee had in fact spoken of

Returning to thailand.

I knew she told me she had gotten her passport.

She'd gotten her citizenship and her passport, so it wouldn't

Have surprised me if she had done that.

She mentioned to me, you know, she's not happy -- she'd

Like to go thailand, visit family.

Narrator: and if bun chee was indeed the woman found in the

Shallow grave, why haven't her family in thailand reported her

Missing during the last five years?

For the information police needed, scientists once again

Look for answers in the bones.

Narrator: had bun chee nyhuis left behind her two children and

Returned to thailand as her husband claimed, or were her

Remains those found in the shallow grave at the boy scout

Ranch?

The answer lay in the skull and a technique called skull

Photograph superimposition.

Police obtained this photograph of bun chee from her husband,

Richard, and sent it to the anthropology department at

Colorado state university.

Police also included a photograph of another asian

Woman who was reported missing in georgia.

The photographic work was done by the late

Dr. Michael charney -- a world-renowned forensic

Anthropologist at colorado state university.

Charney positioned the skull in the same pose as the photographs

Of both women, then superimposed slides of the skull over the

Photographs.

The skull did not match the woman from georgia, but it did

Match the photo of bun chee nyhuis -- perfectly.

Face is at an angle, she's clowning around making a face.

We find that the jawline is within the chin.

The top is within the top of the head.

The cheek is within.

The eyes are in the orbits.

The nasal opening corresponds to the nose, and the teeth match up

Very nicely to the jawline here.

In spite of the fact that it's a very difficult angle to

Approximate and expression to approximate, we felt this was a

Very good match.

Narrator: now armed with a positive scientific

Identification, police turned their attention to

Richard nyhuis.

They suspected that he knew more about his wife's disappearance

Than he was telling them.

Her friends indicated that they had a very volatile

Relationship, that they argued quite a bit.

Narrator: and police also learned of a disturbing

Coincidence, that richard nyhuis was a boy scout

Leader and often camped at the boy scout ranch where police

Discovered bun chee's grave.

Then I turned to my partner and we looked at each other, and

We just couldn't believe it.

That's when we knew we had to formulate a gameplan and we'd

Have probably just one sh*t at him.

It all started fitting together at that point.

All the pieces started coming into place.

Narrator: when police confronted richard nyhuis with

The forensic evidence, he confessed, although he gave

Conflicting accounts of what actually happened.

He said bun chee fell during a scuffle and hit her head

Accidentally, but admitted suffocating his wife.

There was blood all over the place, and she was yelling and

Screaming.

So I put my hands over her mouth and her nose and suffocated her.

Narrator: in light of the confession, forensic pathologist

Dr. Mary case examined the skull.

She studied the small wound on the back of the skull and

Concluded that it was not the result of an accident, but

Rather the result of blunt trauma to the head.

This is a very limited area.

It's pushed inward, and we tend to see this kind of a depressed

Skull fracture when you strike the head with something that has

Very forceful impact over a very small striking surface.

A hammer would be a good example of something that could do that.

It's a tool -- it's meant to strike -- and all of the force

Is directed onto a very small striking surface.

Narrator: based on the forensic evidence and parts of

Nyhuis' confession, prosecutors believed that richard and

Bun chee argued one night in the basement of their home.

We're not moving.

We've been through this before.

We are not moving! All right?

Narrator: bun chee wanted to move into a new house.

Richard refused, saying they couldn't afford it.

I'm taking the boys and leaving!

[ Thud ] narrator: the blow to her

Head was not fatal, but while she lay bleeding on the floor,

Richard suffocated her.

He used a service merchandise bag to contain the bleeding,

Wrapped the body in a sheet of plastic, and placed her in the

Freezer, where she remained for the next three months.

Nyhuis fabricated the story about driving bun chee to the

St. Louis airport for a flight to thailand.

When spring arrived and the ground thawed, richard took

Bun chee's body to the boy scout ranch -- a two-hour drive from

His home.

He chose a secluded area deep in the woods for the burial but

Made a number of mistakes.

The lime he spread over the body most likely aided decomposition,

But the grave was only feet deep -- not deep enough to keep

Burrowing animals from bringing her bones to the surface.

And bun chee was buried in texwood jeans, which told a

Story since they were made and sold exclusively in asia.

Nyhuis never anticipated that his wife's remains would be

Discovered -- and if they were, that they would ever be

Successfully identified.

Finding the texwood button, the pelvic bone that revealed the

Victim had at least two children, the mongoloid skull,

The forensic sculpture, and the photographic superimposition all

Were essential elements in the identification.

During the trial, dr. Case testified that it takes between

Three and five minutes to suffocate an individual.

After a minute or two, the person would only be

Unconscious.

It was entirely possible that nyhuis put his wife into the

Freezer while she was still alive.

Richard nyhuis was convicted of m*rder and sentenced to life in

Prison without the possibility of parole for years.

It was great forensic science, and, of course, that's

How it's supposed to work.

You get a button, you get a hair, and the expert in that

Area can tell you -- and if you look at the button work, it took

About a month.

It was less than a month for someone to look at that button

And say, well, that's only manufactured in that part of the

World.

Well, somebody had to collect all that information, and I

Admire that.

I think that's wonderful.

It took all the different scientific and forensic people

To make this thing happen -- any one piece of which could have

Stopped the investigation.

One of the unique things about the case was actually

Having the remains to do the trial, and bun chee nyhuis

Actually came alive in her own trial.

This was one of the few cases where a prosecutor got to try a

m*rder case with the victim actually in the courtroom with

Him, speaking to the jury.